Does this mean we can't rent out points at National Harbor?

[dgalati]

Excellent post! I couldn't have said it better! I shall seek my answers elsewhere.

Btw, @chapjim, would you be willing to share the methods you employ to rent out your points. DM would be appreciated. Thank you!

Whats up with the poop maps?

 

[SNA27]

Not UP, look DOWN when you walk in SFO! Haha!
I could provide a link here but it's hard to do without it appearing political.
Just bing it or google it for yourself!

 

[SNA27]

I just signed up on Airbnb Hosts forum and searched quite a bit about this issue of Short Term Rental license in PG County. Haven't found that needle yet in that haystack which is bigger than TUG.

At least TUG BBS is neatly compartmentalized into well-defined subsets. Airbnb Hosts has categories but uncategorized posts outnumber the rest put together!

I will call the PG County on Monday. I hope the horse will be cooperative and open its mouth!;-)

 

[rapmarks]

We got a bit off track here.

OP was about PG County (Md.) regulating short term rentals and BnB announcing its compliance policy. The question posed was whether that had an impact on rentals at National Harbor. I don't think the question was ever answered but we heard a lot about tax implications of renting at and below market rates, homelessness, poop maps, and whether middlemen are necessary in the first place.

I don't do BnB but someone who does and who might be affected by PG County's policy should contact BnB and ask if this policy applies to rentals at a timeshare resort instead of asking us goofs on this combination bulletin board service/support group.

Correct! Wisconsin recently passed a law allowing short term rentals in residential neighborhoods. It superceeded local and county laws, but the township passed an ordinance requiring at least a seven day stay. A large home in our neighborhood just got the first license, and it sleeps 16. Believe me the neighborhood tried to stop it. But that has absolutely no effect on the timeshares just down the street, which are already zoned for that purpose. I doubt very much the PG county ordinance affects national harbor at all.

 

[SNA27]

I agree. PG County should have made this differentiation and exempted Timeshare Resorts.

I think Airbnb does appreciate the difference since they have created a special team to support Hotel Airbnbs. Hopefully, they will go to bat for us and get PG county to exempt TS.

 

[tschwa2]

I agree. PG County should have made this differentiation and exempted Timeshare Resorts.

I think Airbnb does appreciate the difference since they have created a special team to support Hotel Airbnbs. Hopefully, they will go to bat for us and get PG county to exempt TS.

Since there is one and only one timeshare in PG county, it probably never occurred to them and no one brought it up.

 

[chapjim]

Not UP, look DOWN when you walk in SFO! Haha!
I could provide a link here but it's hard to do without it appearing political.
Just bing it or google it for yourself!

Go for it!! I got busted on here for getting political about SFO. Don't remember what I said but I'm pretty sure I meant it!

I was going to get political about my least favorite (third) world class jurisdiction (other than Washington, DC, that is) -- Prince George's County, MD, but I didn't!

 

[chapjim]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...7b6b62-d6e3-11e8-a10f-b51546b10756_story.html

Try Wyndham Alexandria. I honestly think Wyndham Alexandria is better for out-of-town guests.

National Harbor is a fancier resort, but folks have to taxi or rent car/drive 15 min drive to the Huntington Metro, in which people can commute to the monuments or Natl Mall. Wyndham Alexandria is one-block away from the King Street Metro and requires no rental cars.

No need to rent anything to get to DC while staying at National Harbor.

NH-2 Metro bus goes to King Street Metro Station. NH-1 runs to Southern Avenue Metro Station. I've done both getting to my office in Crystal City. First choice (after the shuttle quit running) was NH-2 but I took the NH-1 bus last summer while King Street Metro was under construction. It was the long way around (to CC) but it works. For someone going into the District, it may be better. Depends on where one is going.

Without question, Old Town Alexandria is a better resort if the primary focus is going to the District. Better access to transportation and a better variety of eateries at much more reasonable prices along King Street, Duke Street, and cross streets. But OTA is very thin on amenities and activities. No pool, for example.

 

[SNA27]

Supply and demand are the underpinnings of economic activity!
Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, etc. are the greatest innovations of our time to increase the supply by making the dormant surplus capacity available to be consumed by ever-growing demand!
[Offensive comment deleted. <-- SueDonJ

@chapjim, Once busted, twice shy!

'Offensive' is a broad all-encompassing term! I hope mine barely registered and I have no idea who was offended! Anyway, this is not the place! I could go on Twitter if I really want to get my BP up!

 

[chapjim]

Excellent post! I couldn't have said it better! I shall seek my answers elsewhere.

Btw, @chapjim, would you be willing to share the methods you employ to rent out your points. DM would be appreciated. Thank you!

I don't do anything special. I book prime weeks out as far as I can -- fourteen months for PresRes at Bonnet Creek; thirteen months for other Bonnet Creek, Ocean Walk, and Royal Vista. My 2020 points were exhausted last summer some time. I know I'm going to end up canceling a lot of the full price reservations when the 60-day discount/upgrade opens. Some primo reservations will sell at full price -- PresRes units at Bonnet Creek for Spring Break, Bike Week at Ocean Walk. I'm trying the Daytona 500 and I have two Mardi Gras reservations this year.

Other than that, I work my whatever off looking for discounted reservations (and maybe upgraded) that I think will sell. If they do, fine. If they don't, they don't. I just cancel at the 15-day point and move on with something else.

Example: I've worked Wyndham Panama City Beach pretty hard this January. I know it's dead winter and PCB can be decent or very cold in January. But if someone is content reading on the balcony in a hoodie, it's a good place to be. A lot of the attractions and some restaurants will be closed but a lot won't be. I've booked nine weeks at PCB in January. I booked a two-week reservation from January 11-25 back in mid-November and offered it to a customer in Texas. I sent him that guest confirmation on November 15. Then just today, I sold him the week starting January 25 and the week starting January 4 so he'll be there for four weeks in a 2BR Presidential unit, all upgraded and for way less than $100/night.

An hour ago, I booked a 2BR Presidential unit at PCB from January 18-25 for 24,500 points -- an upgrade from a lower level studio. There are some bargains out there but they take work to find.

 

[SNA27]

So, you book first and offer it for rent! I did that with Grand Desert. I had to make an additional reservation since the renter needed 4 nights. So 2 GC for one rental.

At National Harbor, I wait for a request and then book if available and accept the request. If not available, I decline. But there so many mega-renters at that site, my method is not very fruitful!

My son found some site that crawls the web and aggregates conference info. Perhaps, I can use that info and proactively book desired dates.

Where do you list your rentals if not at Airbnb?

Btw, my Wyndham buddy mentioned in his text, inter alia, that a friend is staying at PCB for 8 nights in a 1BR for 52,000 points! Looks like you did even better! 2BR PR is no longer available! The quiet week is even better than value week!

 

[SNA27]

Is PCB dead in January?

 

[SNA27]

Coming back to National Harbor, it's really not the right place for me and my wife. My sons enjoyed the sports bar and such! It was quite far from the wedding location at Marriott Westfields in Chantilly.
Marriott 'generously' (and with suppressed glee, I bet!) waived the one-night penalty when I called on the check-in date to cancel my discounted marriage party reservation I had made long before!

All during my road-warrior days, I stayed at Marriott Residence Inn and I loved it! I was treated very well by them and I still have a lot of Marriott reward points I have to protect from expiry!
I had not even heard of Wyndham except in pejorative terms thanks to their flea-bitten motel chains! How does a Marriott or a Hilton or a Hyatt lose out to a Wyndham in TS?
If I didn't succumb to Marriott TS deals in my 30s and 40s, how did Wyndham get me at 62?
I think it's Psych Ops! Exploit the guilt of workaholics like me who feel they have missed out on life! That's the chink in my armor they detected and exploited! Smh!

 

[SNA27]

My son and his GF checked into Sea Gardens in Pompano Beach today! They have signed him up to attend a presentation tomorrow at Royal Vista to explain how Wyndham has spent $92 Million on an app to support the new Privileges program. They told him he has been marked a 'PRIORITY' to receive such important briefing! It will not be a sales effort! Can you believe this crap? But, I love it when my son attends these presentations. He has a cloaking device/shield in me and he becomes unassailable! He can easily say 'talk to my dad' and walk away with his reward! I just hope he learns a lot! But will my Atlas ever get the better of his Hercules?

 

[tschwa2]

My son and his GF checked into Sea Gardens in Pompano Beach today! They have signed him up to attend a presentation tomorrow at Royal Vista to explain how Wyndham has spent $92 Million on an app to support the new Privileges program. They told him he has been marked a 'PRIORITY' to receive such important briefing! It will not be a sales effort! Can you believe this crap? But, I love it when my son attends these presentations. He has a cloaking device in me and he becomes unassailable! He can easily say 'talk to my dad' and walk away with his reward! I just hope he learns a lot! But can Atlas ever get the better of Hercules?

Even if he doesn't buy he should realize that much of what they say isn't true or has only a kernel of truth and they say things in ways in which they know it will likely be interpreted incorrectly. So it usually isn't a good venue to learn the truth about how the program works.

 

[SNA27]

My son was laughing when he told me about their spiel! He could've written this app for less than 10% and we would all have been better off! This is Obamacare territory (am I allowed to allude to this IT debacle or will I get reprimanded for speaking ill of the Gods?) and I hope Wyndham executes well on this Privileges app!

 

[SNA27]

Wyndham Worldwide lives up its Worldwide attribute! We have stayed at a Travelodge in Page AZ. We have stayed Wyndham Grand Riverfront in Chicago. Running a corporation that spans such a wide range must be insanely complicated! It's like trying to span 90 percentile to 1 percentile. Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt try to span 100 to 40! Wonders and mysteries of capitalism!

 

[SNA27]

The day before yesterday, I was at Albertsons buying Vodka and other sinful substances! The guy in front of me is asked whether he would contribute $5 to the Albertsons' charity of bagful of goodies to people, DESERVING or otherwise! He says he's already given! My turn, I just can't tell a lie! It will be so obvious and embarrassing! I am thinking I am buying Vodka when the goodies go to starving people! I say, of course! She's gleaming and I feel I must've done the right thing! This is all psych ops! An impulse purchase or giving based on psychological compulsions and not based on thoughtful action! I have no problem with giving but I was just bemused by how it transpired and the psychological dimensions that underlie it! I just wish I was a Vulcan or a robot who cannot be so easily manipulated!

 

[dgalati]

Not UP, look DOWN when you walk in SFO! Haha!
I could provide a link here but it's hard to do without it appearing political.
Just bing it or google it for yourself!

What are the maps for dog poop? We have laws in Ohio where you must pickup if your dog poops.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

...... We have laws in Ohio where you must pickup if your dog poops.

Must be a lot of F-150’s in Ohio
LOL

 

[chapjim]

Is PCB dead in January?

View attachment 15510

In Wyndham terms, it's "Quiet."

 

[chapjim]

What are the maps for dog poop? We have laws in Ohio where you must pickup if your dog poops.

It's not dogs.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Not UP, look DOWN when you walk in SFO! Haha!
I could provide a link here but it's hard to do without it appearing political.
Just bing it or google it for yourself!

We've been asked not to talk about it here (but how would you know)? Yes, anyone interested you can google for yourself, but don't post about it here. Posts have been removed, threads have been closed. I wouldn't bother looking for history here, there were some offensive links that I know I personally don't want to click on ever again.

 

[chapjim]

So, you book first and offer it for rent! <snip>

Correct. Most of my rentals are reservations I made inside the 60 day discount/upgrade window. Of course, what that means is I have a maximum of forty-five days to seal the deal. Often way less than 45 days. In a sense, I'm bottom-feeding -- trying to find cancellations or availability that seem not to have been noticed (but which could really be cancellations). It is time-consuming. I am almost always points-challenged so when I find something, I have to decide whether it is better than what I have. Cancel

Record-keeping is also time-consuming. I maintain Excel sheets to keep track of reservations, including when I sent a guest confirmation and when I was paid. I track revenue and expenses in Quicken, which allows me to generate reports that are extremely useful come time to file taxes. And I maintain a PowerPoint file with reservations and prices so when someone asks if I have availability somewhere, I can just send the .pdf version of the .ppt file, with a "Here's what I've got right now but it changes fairly often."

I could probably do everything in Microsoft Access. I've done some database development in Access but it was back in the '90s. I'm not sure I'm up to the task.

Where do you list your rentals if not at Airbnb? <snip>

TUG2, TUG LMR, Craig's List, RedWeek.com, and ebay in no particular order and not often on all of them for a particular reservation. I think I've posted before that I concentrate on relatively few resorts. Reservations at those resorts are most likely to be listed on RedWeek.com because you can edit those listings to change the dates, unit size, price, etc., as long as the resort stays the same. I'll use the same listing three or four times before it expires. RedWeek.com listings cost $25.50 (with the discount) so the savings can add up.

 

[rapmarks]

My son was laughing when he told me about their spiel! He could've written this app for less than 10% and we would all have been better off! This is Obamacare territory (am I allowed to allude to this IT debacle or will I get reprimanded for speaking ill of the Gods?) and I hope Wyndham executes well on this Privileges app!

You manage to share your political leanings on almost every thread. I have been on this board for many years, and I do not know the leanings of most of the contributors. Why do you feel the need to make these references on a timeshare board,you have since your first posts.